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An interesting discussion from 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19533219 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19533219 Tetris Holdings, LLC v. Xio In
by mortenjorck 3y ago
An interesting discussion from 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19533219 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19533219
Tetris Holdings, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. held that the tetrominoes are "expression; they are not part of the ideas, rules, or functions of the game," which certainly seems open to dispute, but I could just as easily imagine the same standard being applied to letter tiles with a score value in the corner.
So yeah, unless you have a few spare million to get this precedent overturned, it's probably not worth it.
- Aeolun 3y agoWait what? That’s not expression. Without the blocks being the shapes they are there wouldn’t be a (viable) game, so it’s clearly part of the rules. Whether the blocks look like jelly or concrete is expression. Or even the exact graphics they use in Tetris. But the fact there’s blocks in preconfigured shapes (and what those shapes are) is game rules. There’s only so many ways you can stick four blocks together…
- jacobolus 3y agoYeah, the judge's gut-feel decision that using tetrominoes is not part of the functional rules of the game seemed absurd to me. But hey, when you are the judge you can more or less decide however you want, and the only one who can say otherwise is the next appellate court. Disclaimer: I made the "art" for Xio's game (i.e. I picked the colors and drew all the tiles and menu buttons etc. on my laptop in photoshop) as a favor to my friends, so am not an unbiased reporter. As a reward I got to sit through a long deposition. :-)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]